Several
people approached me last week about their personal efforts to fight the
erosion of liberty in the world today. They were soliciting our help in
spreading their plan to return to the freedoms they believed the Constitution
afforded America at one time in our history. They wanted the aid of our
existing network, radio broadcasts and articles to promote their efforts
to return to liberty and even wanted copies of some of our books to spread
amongst their people because they believe the information contained in
them is vital to the success of their own quest for freedom.

While
they believed that understanding the contents of my books, like The
Covenants of the gods,[1]
is essential to groups like the Tea Party and other patriot organizations
for educational purposes they expressed concerns that most of them did
not want to hear anything about - religion.

I thought
that was funny and immediately thought of the line from the movie The
Princess Bride where Inigo Montoya comments to Vizzini, "You
keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

I understand
why people seeking liberty do not want to hear about “religion”
and I would not want to spar with them concerning the stuff posing as
religion today. The real reason for their mental taboo of the term is
that today the word religion does not mean what they think it means.

The
definition of the word religion has changed in the minds of modern
society since the Constitution was written and even more so since James
defined pure religion[2]
in the Bible. It is important to understand the meaning of words at the
time they are used. There is power in words because “the generality
of mankind is wholly and absolutely governed by words and names”.[3]

If you
are going to study the words of older documents like the Constitution
of the United States you need to use the dictionary used at the time men
wrote that document. Modern dictionaries often cite much different definitions.
The most common dictionary used for the Constitution is John Bouvier's
Law Dictionary but that is not where most of you get the definitions you
have in your mind for the words you use every day.

When
someone uses the word religion today they might think the word means “a
set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe,
especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies,
usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing
a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs or a specific fundamental
set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons
or sects...”[4]

But
if you look up the same word in a dictionary published just a hundred
years before, when many words we commonly used today were being changed,
you will see that the word “religion” according to Webster's
Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) meant, “The outward act
or form by which men indicate their recognition of the existence of a
god or of gods having power over their destiny, to whom obedience, service,
and honor are due; the feeling or expression of human love, fear, or awe
of some superhuman and over ruling power, whether by profession of belief,
by observance of rites and ceremonies..."

In these
two definitions we see that “religion” in a hundred years
went from meaning, “The outward act or form ” to
meaning "a set of beliefs.”

Changing
the meaning of the word religion from an “act” to
a “belief” was no small step to say nothing of the rest of
the definition. But the change did not begin there. If we go back just
a little over fifty years before that to John Bouvier's 1856 Law Dictionary
adapted to the Constitution of the United States we find that religion
was first defined:

“Real
piety in practice, consisting in the performance of all known duties to
God and our fellow men.”

Do not
be confused or put off by the word piety. While the word “piety”
has come to mean “making a hypocritical display of virtue”[5]
it use to mean duty especially to your parents and specifically
to your father. Duty to your natural father was the
origin of the original patriotism before the state became your father.[6]

The
critical point of this definition is that religion was the acts by which
you tended to your duty to your fellow men not just what you believed
about God or gods. So there are many words and their meanings that have
changed over time and when dealing with history or your future it is essential
to know what words meant in the past as well as what we think they mean
today if we are to learn from history because:

Those
who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Knowing
the original meaning of words at the time of the writing of old or ancient
documents can increase our understanding of what the authors were trying
to say and even trying to get us to do. By changing the meaning of words
- without altering the original documents - you can deceive people about
the author's intent. This is certainly true in relationship to constitutions
but probably most obvious in the research of sacred scripts used by modern
religions where people are often bound to a way of thinking by their faith,
not in the original author or teacher or in God, but in their priest,
pastor, rabbi, monk, swami or imam that is telling you what the original
blessed, wise, holy or enlightened teacher or prophet was trying to impart
to us in their writings or those who wrote about them.

You
may begin to see that the changing of the meaning of words, which often
goes unnoticed by the procession of new generations, can shape and mold
the mind and alter the thinking of whole societies. Through the use of
lexicographers a great power and influence can be exerted over the minds
of the people.[7]
Once people accept ideas as true they will often defend their newly established
beliefs in the face of clear and even overwhelming evidence that they
are in error and what they have come to believe to be true is completely
false. This is even more true when it comes to religions and politics.

If you
want a lively discussion at your next party invite an informed iconoclast
to get things going. I am one of those iconoclasts because I am not afraid
to talk about religion or the politics of religion. I do not get invited
to a lot of parties because most people can’t handle the truth.

The
next question to be answered is can you handle the truth?

Around
1913 the relationships of the people and their governments and their churches
were changing. The governments of the world were getting into the social
welfare business just as the churches were getting out of providing for
their members in time of need and into the just-believe business.

Governments
were starting to take care of the needy of the world through tax contributions
during the birth of their New Deal and Great Society's
search for the utopian welfare state while churches were moving farther
from being the providers of daily ministration of the needy of
their congregations.[8]
Churches became more interested in helping people feel good about what
they thought or the doctrines they believed, while striving to
fill their pews with contributing members. Denominations grew in number
as world domination of the democratic socialist states became a reality.

A synonym
of totalitarian is undemocratic but when everyone become a little dictator
ruling over their neighbor through their desire for more benefits social
democracies became the throne of totalitarian beasts that go about devouring
who they will.

People
pick the denomination that makes them feel the best. No one wants to get
out of the comfortable mindset offered by what their religion has told
them to believe. But what they often think is the comfortable blessings
of the proverbial hot-tub of faith is actually a boiling cauldron of superstition
that eventually cooks the mind one degree at a time. The only way to protect
your mind from being cooked as society constantly changes the meaning
of words is to learn the original meaning. This will require a willingness
to accept the possibility that what you think know for sure just ain’t
so.[9]
That willingness to accept the fact that you may be deceived already is
called humility.

Edwin
Howard Armstrong once said “They substitute words for reality
and then talk about the words.”

So what
is the significance of the word religion being the practice
and performance of our duty to God and our fellow man and
not merely our belief in a superhuman agency?

Since
religion at the time of the writing of the Constitution meant in part
how you provided or performed all known duties to your fellow men
then your real religion is how you accomplish that obligation. There
seems to have been two ways throughout history by which we can fulfill
our duty to our fellowman in societies. One way was by force[10]
and the other was by the perfect law of liberty. The way you choose to
fulfill that obligation to society will determine if you are to be free
or not.

When
you talk about forms of government and economy like socialism and capitalism
or any type of welfare or entitlement obligations that provides for the
needs of the people you are talking about religion, at least
as it was defined at the time of the writing of the Constitution of the
United States.

If the
word religion has changed so much in the last 200 years how much
more has it changed in the 2000 years since documents like the Bible were
written? Well it has changed a great deal and we go through those changes
step by step in radio broadcasts and articles. I am sure much of what
we have to say will upset the religious establishments of today
who still think religion is what one believe or says
and not what one does.[11]

Part
of that confusion is from what we are taught words mean but part of that
is from what we want to believe. Most people do not want to know that
religion is how you take care of, help and aid your fellow man when he
is in real need. We should know that pure religion is when you
provide that care and benefit of society without the forced contributions
of governments that exercise authority one over the other.

The
amazing thing is that early Christians did take care of each other through
charity alone and refused to take the benefits of rulers who forced the
contributions of the people.[12]
They provided these benefits through free will offerings which was according
to the perfect law of liberty[13]
spoken of by James in reference to that pure religion[14]
and all that was central to the activities of early Christians.[15]

Modern
Christians readily apply for those benefits from these men who call
themselves benefactors, which is contrary to the Christ[16]
who they say they believe in. They simply take from your neighbor through
the superhuman agency or agencies of their governments. These
benefits of modern Rome,[17] once refused by early
Christians, are pervasive in modern religions. Modern Christians
remain oblivious to the fact they have more in common with the religion
of ancient pagans, the Pharisees and the temples of Rome than they have
with the early Christian Church where people gathered.[18]

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The
point of all this is that there are two ways to take care of the needy
of your society. There are two ways to practice and perform our
duty to our fellow man. There are two religions in the world
today. One is dependent upon free-will offerings of the people, for the
people, and by the people, and the other is established by people electing
men who call themselves benefactors but force the contributions of society
by exercising authority one over the other. Both are forms of
religion. One sets you free while the other may promises you liberty[19]
yet leads many people away from truth and freedom.[20]
Such covetous systems makes the people merchandise,[21]
collateral for debt[22] and human resources.[23]

If you
want to be free you need to talk about real religion.

Next
we will take a look at why real Christians were persecuted back in the
Roman Empire and what Christ was really saying and doing that restored
liberty and why you have lost that liberty because you thought liberty
had nothing to do with religion.

Brother
Gregory was born in America in 1948. His father was a practicing attorney
and his mother the daughter of Norwegian immigrants. He Married in
1973, and is the Father of 6 children with a growing number of grandchildren.
He grew up in southeast Texas, attending private schools, entering
the seminary at 13, where he studied Latin, Greek, and theology. In
the course of these studies he began to become aware of secrets hidden
for centuries within ancient libraries that began to reveal a more
fundamental purpose in the gospel of Christ. His quest to understand
the “whole truth” has led him down a labyrinth of law
and language, history and prophecy, fable and fallacy, in a unique
portrait of bondage and betrayal, liberty and freedom, and the solution
and salvation.

He
is the author of several books, include The
Covenants of the gods, Thy Kingdom Comes, and The Free Church
Report, dozens of pamphlets, audio, and video recordings. He has appeared
on radio and television “preaching the gospel of the kingdom
of God” which is at hand, within your reach. His common theme
is how are men brought into bondage and how are they made free souls
under God. His hope and prayer is to bring man's relationship with
the God of creation and his relationship with the gods of the “world”
into a new perspective and light. Knowing the truth shall set you
free, if we will do the will of our Father in heaven.

He now lives
near Summer Lake, Oregon where he continues to care for his family,
tending sheep of the Church and overseeing the edification of the
Church established by Christ in the hearts and minds of congregations
of the people, for the people, by the people who will seek the Kingdom
of God and His righteousness.